Longmont teen might be one of two bodies found in New Mexico lake

Boys missing since Sunday, but identities not released yet

Two bodies recovered Wednesday from a New Mexico lake may include a 15-year-old Longmont boy missing since Sunday.

Noah Hooper, 15, had been assisting summer programs at the Apache Creek Deaf and Mute Camp. He and a 16-year-old friend, Seth Stephenson of Chaparral, N.M., had been with a group of campers visiting Quemado Lake Sunday afternoon and were the only two not to return.

They were reported missing at 10 p.m., five hours after the rest of the group reported back.

Neither boy is deaf.

New Mexico Search and Rescue teams, along with the New Mexico State Police dive team, searched the lake and the mountainous area around it in the Cibola National Forest Range throughout the daylight hours, beginning Monday.

A male body was found in the west end of the lake at about 1 p.m. Wednesday; a second was found at 3 p.m. According to authorities, both were submerged in about 14 feet of water and had been covered by muddy silt.

The six-acre lake varies in depth from 3 to 16 feet, authorities said.

An official identification has not yet been made by the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque, N.M.

On Thursday, the New Mexico State Police told the Denver Post that Hooper's parents arrived in the state Monday and that the family is "grieving."

The state police said in a release that it would not release names until OMI confirms the identities.

"The efforts of all parties involved in this search flowed flawlessly," New Mexico State Police Chief Robert Shilling said in a statement. "Unfortunately, these best efforts are sometimes waged by the reality of crestfallen outcomes."

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